Novotel Cardiff Centre

We came in by train and it was an easy 15-minute walk to the hotel. Breakfast very good, room was clean. Interesting walk along the canal. We also had need to catch a bus and had no trouble finding the bus station which was only 10 minutes away. Wifi very good.

The hotel itself looked fantastic,bar and restaurant area was comfortable, our room was no way 4 star-it was clean and tidy but more like premier inn so not worth the money spent.We had breakfast delivered to room at extra cost-this was fantastic and worth the money and car was parked safe in secure car park .Bed was rock hard,tv in room small and quite a distance from bed,pool facilities were good and bar staff really nice....My main issue in this hotel happened after we came in from a night out watching a comedy show,a lady clearly in distress in bar area after a fight with her partner in front of us all and she who ended up with another man trying to console her.... now all this progressed and got out of hand- in front of security and the night manager-we asked them to help this lady as the incident was getting out of hand and arguments between them were disturbing us all in the bar.... The night manager threatened my partner when he asked for help for her as we were worried about her safety ,he started shouting at the bar staff to shut the bar and told my partner to go away or he would remove him from the hotel-totally rude,threatening and what a disgusting attitude.By the morning we were told this incident had progressed as that lady got no help-we had to deal with the police in the morning as there had been an alleged sexual attack on her ......we’ll done that manager.....

Room basic but clean and comfortable. Disappointed to find that the gym doesn't open until 7am, my work day starts at 8am so no time to use it. Very frustrating as I'd chosen this hotel over others (theres plenty of choice) because of its gym, in my experience, gym hotels usually available from around 6am,or key card entry (24hr). Hotel is fine for business trips but will book elsewhere on repeat trips due to morning gym accessibility.

Stayed for 2 nights with my family as part of an annual conference. Was v excited to be placed at this hotel having seen the amazing lobby the year before. When you walk into the hotel it looks great - big bright and airy lobby, very modern. I liked the fact there were lots of books, magazines and computers for the kids. So far...so worth the £180 per night! The pool area is also very nice, spacious and clean-although it was a shame on both times we went a 3rd of the pool was taken up by someone having private lessons. Now the negatives. Breakfast ingredients were fine with reasonable variety. The pancake machine went down a treat with the kids. However what I found odd (and it was the same in the leisure centre) was that there was no service at all. You pay for breakfast however noone welcomes you or takes your room number, so really anyone could go. Noone says hello, speaks to you or brings coffee. There are people bringing and taking things away, but they weren't friendly at all and seemed to soend a lot of time stood there chatting to each other. The service at this hotel did seem quite cold overall. But the worst thing by far was the room! The positives were it was quite and fairly spacious (but not a big room). The room seemed totally at odds with the rest of the hotel. The decor was so bland and dated. The bathroom was obviously ancient with dark blue tiles and filler here and there where things like a towel rack had been taken down and not replaced. The towels were tiny and like sandpaper. The TV was tiny and bizarrely placed far away from the main bed making TV watching after the kids were asleep impossible. Tea and coffee facilities were dirt cheap - the kettle hadn't been emptied. I save my biggest complaint for the bed though - as I cried to my husband at around 3am I felt like I may as well have slept on the curbside - it was so hard, not an inch of bounce - obviously all the springs had worn away. When I complained at reception they said there was nothing they could do. They did replace the pillows, the first set we had was so worn down that mine actually had a hole in the centre. I have stayed in hostels with better quality beds. Overall I would only ever stay at this hotel again if I was assured they had updated the rooms or were willing to significantly lower the price. You would think the room and the guest's sleep would be a top priority for a hotel - so disappointing.

Stayed at this hotel 26/5/19 was expecting something much better for the £190 for one night we paid! But anyway it was decent enough so wouldn’t usually complain although I experienced a very bad nights sleep due to a loud buzzing noise that went on all night long! It was still going at 8am when we checked out and when I complained to the receptionist to my amazement she had no idea what it was but decided she would offer me a free breakfast. I was u happy with this as I had paid a lot of money for one night in this hotel. I have since contacted the hotel about this but not had any kind of response. Will not be returning. Bad experience and bad customer service

We arrived a little early 1.30 pm as we had booked in on line 2days previously we went into the hotel. To be told our room was not ready and they would text us when it was. We went out then received a text at 2.50 pm to say our room would be ready after 2 pm . We stayed out until after 4 pm. Came back waited at priority checkin as we are silver members. for a good 10 minutes as someone was being helped. I must add there were two other staff on the reception who offered no assistance until we decided to approach one of them . Well we had no room allocated. No key and no welcome drink etc. He had to go through paperwork more than once. Then back on the computer Then allocated us a room and key etc. So much for priority checkin. Not a very good start. We had booked an executive suite the only thing that made it executive was the balcony. The shower screen and bottom of tiles were mouldy and from our bed you could see inches of thick dust under the mini fridge. We did inform reception of this Would advise to go early for breakfast as the layout of self service buffet can get very chaotic if busy. We did sleep well .that is down to the quality of the beds.

Grubby corridors, only one lift works, noisy bar, slow service, average (?) food, noisy clientele. There’s no point in phoning Reception as no-one answers. There are other, better cheap hotels nearby. Book one to get a night’s sleep.

I stayed here in May 2019 with my 4 year old daughter and my mum. We chose this hotel because we were looking for a bit of luxury on our girls’ weekend away. It was fine but definitely not luxury! First of all there was some weird thing going on that it costs MORE in a single room supplement than it does to say 2 adults are staying and having breakfast. Same with my room, kids eat free so had to say two adults. Despite booking 2 rooms for 2 people and 3 people, both rooms were made up for one. The sofa bed wasn’t made up and there was one towel (found another in the wardrobe) and one set of toiletries. The decoration of the room was bland - magnolia all the way and the bathroom really dated and grim (because of the age, dirty too. Silver fish included!). The heated towel rail disconnected for safety reasons! The restaurant was a bar which served food. By 7.45 on sat night the bar was filled with very loud people attending an event. Not pleasant for my elderly mum and little girl! Food was mixed - my mum’s rib eye steak was definitely not rib eye and well cooked (requested rare). My burger was nice. Desserts all round were nice. The pool was a big hit! I needed to turn a blind eye to the dirt / hair / empty bottles though. They were busy so reception staff very busy. This meant I did a lot of queuing for my key to be reset (the default reason is that it’s my fault for putting near my phone - even though I didn’t which become irritating) - 4 times. When I logged into WiFi on day 2 it asked if I was satisfied- I said no. In fairness, they did reply and they did listen to what I said and waived the car park charge as a good will gesture which does go some way. I think my biggest gripe was the price we paid didn’t match what we got. Premier inn is better quality! Would I recommend? Possibly if someone else was paying!

This hotel really makes you feel like home ❤️ The price it’s very good , the receptionist it a lovely young boy , bartenders fantastic , waiters aswell ... really feel like home ❤️ Bee back soon very soon